V-Eight For the Vintage Set

V-EIGHT FOR THE VINTAGE SET

AMAZING! THAT IS THE only word to describe British engineer Allen Millyard’s brilliant transformation of a 1974 Kawasaki 900 Z-l into a dohc 1600cc V-Eight. larger-capacity sump will combat any overheating concerns.

The home-workshop creation was produced by mating the top halves of two Z-1 engines at a 70-degree angle to re-engineered crankcases and crankpins, with paired con-rods squeezed sideby-side on each of the four crankpins. The result is a 130horsepower torque monster that retains the original model’s period look and sounds like a cross between a hotted-up Harley and a Chevy V-Eight.

“At first glance, many people think it’s a standard Z-l,” Millyard admits. “That’s exactly the effect I wanted. I hate it when you can see that a bike is a special from 100 yards. I like my machines to look like factory originals.”

The V-Eight is the latest and most ambitious of a long line of classic-based specials that have reaped Millyard a mass of show trophies. He first hit the head lines in 1996 by adding extra cylinders to a Kawasaki SIB 250 to turn the three-cylinder twostroke into a 415cc Five. Using the same formula to add or subtract cylinders to other models in Kawasaki’s three-cylinder range has produced a startling array of two, four, five and six-cylinder machines ranging in displacement from 500 to 1350cc. Working in spare time from his job as an engineering manager with the British Ministry of Defence, the 39-year-old has sold about a dozen of these creations to enthusiasts in Britain, France, Japan and America.

As for the V-Eight, extensive testing is planned in the coming months with plans to sell a batch of 20 “productionized” versions featuring purpose-made castings in place of the hand-made top crankcase and intake manifolds. An oil cooler, electric fan and

“I didn’t make any drawings or computer calculations,” Millyard says. “I just did it in my head.

You have to think of a hundred different things at the same time because of the effect any one modification will have elsewhere. Too many people worry if something is right or wrong, and are told you can’t do this or you can’t do that. I don’t take any notice. I just do it and the end-product shows that it works.”

Brian Tarbox